Anomaly Curse

Five days of lifespan?!

Fang Yue froze, then his face lit up with joy!

This [Bombardment Anomaly] hadn't rewarded him with as many attribute points as the [Index Finger Ghoul], but it had given him far more lifespan.

Fang Yue didn't understand the reason behind it. Maybe different types and levels of anomalies gave different rewards.

Still, Fang Yue felt that the [Index Finger Ghoul] had probably been stronger.

After all, anomalies whose eyes bled black blood were basically all [Nascent Anomalies].

These [Nascent Anomalies] were all [Black Grade Initial Stage].

Only anomalies whose eyes had cleared and passed through the black-blood stage could transform into [Black Grade Intermediate Stage] or even higher-level anomalies.

Of course, that wasn't always the case. Some anomalies that passed through the black-blood stage might still linger at [Black Grade Initial Stage].

There was no doubt that the [Index Finger Ghoul] in the Ruined Temple had passed through the black-blood stage and was a Black-level anomaly, which was why Fang Yue thought it was stronger.

The weakest anomalies were all [Black Grade Initial Stage], which corresponded to [Postnatal Third-rate] among human Martial Artists—in other words, Martial Artists who had truly entered the Martial Path!

The gap in strength was terrifying. The entire Ancient Moon Village had only three captains who had entered the Martial Path. Everyone else had merely learned Crude Martial Arts. They were martial arts practitioners, not even Martial Artists.

But humans had wisdom.

Equipment, Crude Martial Arts, physical training to strengthen their attributes, coordinated attacks, and Soul Fire to weaken anomalies—all of these methods could boost their combat strength.

So a group of six could already fight an ordinary anomaly, though the death rate was far too high.

Only Martial Artists could truly face anomalies alone.

Everyone else, even someone at the level of a Vice-Captain, needed help to fight an anomaly.

This [Bombardment Anomaly] was probably fairly average in strength among [Black Grade Initial Stage] anomalies.

After all, the [Bombardment Anomaly] only had strange abilities. Its killing power was clearly lacking.

Of course, that so-called lack of killing power was relative to [Nighttime Fang Yue].

If it had been daytime, Fang Yue would have been slaughtered in minutes. An ordinary Patrol Team member probably wouldn't have lasted either.

Even an elite Patrol Team member like Brother Yong, who was just one step away from becoming a Vice-Captain, had fallen to this anomaly. That showed just how powerful the [Bombardment Anomaly] was.

At night, with his Inner Force saber techniques, Fang Yue's peak Strength could reach 47. With the five additional attribute points, it was now 52.

Fang Yue reckoned that even across all of Ancient Moon Village, he was a rare talent—at least as strong as a Vice-Captain, if not a captain.

With Houtian Realm Martial Arts, you could do whatever you wanted.

Too bad he only had enough Inner Force for one more strike, and his damn saber had broken, leaving him stuck in an awkward halfway point.

He checked his attributes.

"Name: Night Dawn."

"Realm: Postnatal Third-rate."

"Status: Anomaly Curse [Right Hand]."

"Health: 200/200."

"Internal Force Value: 8/25."

"Strength: 34(+20)(-3)."

"Force Dissipation: 34(+20)(-3)."

"Talent: Night's Breath (Human Grade High Rank)."

"Skills: Analysis Pupil (Human-grade Low-tier), Spark Saber Technique Level 1 (Postnatal Third-rate), Spark Heart Method Level 1 (Postnatal Third-rate)."

"Lifespan: 13 days, 1 shichen."

At first glance, Fang Yue's attention was still on his increased lifespan, and he grinned happily.

But when he looked again, he froze.

Wait! Why was there a -3 after my attributes? And what was this [Anomaly Curse] status?

He stared at [Anomaly Curse] for a while before Analysis Pupil slowly activated.

"Name: Anomaly Curse."

"Effect: -3 Strength, -3 Force Dissipation."

"Description: A curse left behind by a special anomaly. Cursed area: [Right Hand]."

"Duration: 24 shichen."

"Note: Press your palms together and hope you're okay!"

The front of his right forearm?

Fang Yue looked at his right arm. The hole punched through his right forearm by the [Bombardment Anomaly] was still there.

A hole gaped in the middle of his arm. The flesh and even some of the bone inside had been compressed into a square and shot out.

So this was... an anomaly curse.

Seeing the countdown ticking down second by second, Fang Yue started to panic.

What would happen when the countdown ended?

And how could he get rid of this status?

Fang Yue was completely in the dark.

Just then, he noticed his right arm had started to itch. The flesh around the hole was wriggling, as if slowly growing back.

Fang Yue froze, then immediately understood.

"Looks like the countdown on the [Anomaly Curse] means my injury will heal on its own when the time runs out. In that case, the anomaly curse isn't so bad after all."

Fang Yue relaxed. He picked up the square piece of flesh he'd retrieved earlier and placed it over the gap in his right arm, like fitting together building blocks. It matched the hole perfectly.

He also noticed that the itching had grown a little stronger. Tiny tendrils extended from the flesh around the hole and gradually fused with the square piece of flesh he'd put back.

The process was very slow, but Fang Yue could feel his body changing. Even the bones were reconnecting.

Fang Yue finally relaxed completely. He stopped worrying about his arm and looked at the corpse on the ground.

Sure enough, the corpse spontaneously burst into flames and burned down to a pile of ash.

"Name: Black Embers."

"Description: Remains left behind after an anomaly's death. Useful for many purposes."

Fang Yue picked them all up.

When he put them in his inventory, he noticed that the Black Embers had combined into a single slot, which meant there had been a subtle change.

"Black Embers [6g]."

6g?

What did that mean?

If it meant grams, they didn't feel that light—they were still a little heavy.

But if it meant quantity, there were so many particles that it didn't seem to refer to a count.

Fang Yue was a little confused. All he knew was that it was probably a unit of measurement.

At that moment, Niu Niu, who was badly injured and unable to move too vigorously, came jogging over from the distance.

"Brother Ye! Brother Ye, you're incredible! Brother Ye is the best in the world!"

"I'm not singling anyone out—no one understands Brother Ye better than I do! I'm his number one fan!"

"Brother Ye! I'm convinced! Take me along, take me along! I'm sticking with you for good! Through mountains of blades and seas of fire, into boiling oil or the depths of hell—just say the word, and I'll go anywhere!"

As Niu Niu came over, he clutched his severed hand and his little heart, babbling excitedly and incoherently.

He was far too worked up!

The system had just notified him of something.

Because he'd helped kill the [Bombardment Anomaly], he'd received a Strength reward of 0.1!

0.1! A whole 0.1!

After working hard for a day and a night, his [Innate Divine Strength] talent had only raised his Strength by 0.7.

But after fighting an anomaly for a couple of moves, getting beaten one-sidedly, and then having Brother Ye swoop in and kill it, he'd somehow earned 0.1 Strength!

It felt so damn good!

From now on, wherever Brother Ye went, he would go. Whatever anomaly Brother Ye killed, he would kill too!

I am Brother Ye's right-hand man! Brother Ye gets the meat, I get the broth! Brothers together, unbeatable under heaven!